Improvement in rubber shoes



JOHNSON LETSON.

vulcanized India Rubber Shoe Dr Gaiter.

117,897. Patented August 8, 187k PATENT OFFICE.

JOHNSON LETSON, OF NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN RUBBER SHOES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 117,897, dated August 8, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHNSON LETsoN, of New Brunswick, in the county of Middlesex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Vulcanized India-Rubber Shoes and Gaiters; and I hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of a gaiter made in accordance with my said invention, and Fig.

2 a sectional elevation of the same 011 line x in Fig. l.

Elastic India-rubber shoes as heretofore constructed were made of a sheet of India rubber run on an elastic or knit fabric, which constituted the lining'. These shoes, although affording perfect protection aga-inst moisture, were inadequate to protect the foot against cold. To combine in India-rubber shoes the twofold advantage of protectionagainst cold and moisture they were subsequently made of India rubber covered and lined with cloth; but these were found deficient on account of being inelastic, so that, unless made very low, they could not, but with difficulty and danger of tearing them, be put on or off the foot already shod or booted. To remedy this last defect India-rubber-cloth shoes or gaiters were made with elastic gores sewed or cemented in at the sides or top thereof'. My invention relates to the improvement last mentioned 5 and consists: First, in the construction of the gore-piece itself'. Second, in the method of applying` the same.

In order that the object of my invention may be understood I would state that the ordinary gores, known under the trade appellation of corrugated goods, and such as are used in connecv tion with leather shoes or gaiters, generally called equal wear, and because the mud lodging in the interstices of the looped fabric cannot be removed by the ordinary means of cleaning the shoes. What I proposed, therefore, was to combine with a cloth shoe or gaiter made impermeable to moisture a gore which, while presenting the appearance of a corrugated fabric, will at the same time be impervious to water, and admit of being inserted in the shoe in the process of making' the shoe itselfby the ordinary process of cementation, and becoming permanently united with the shoe by and during the act of vulcanization.

To enable others to make and use my invention, I will now proceed to describe the manner in which it is or may be carried into effect.

The various parts of the shoe or gaiter being cut according to patterns and from materials desired, and the same being seciued on a last in the usual manner, using in preference a knit fabric for the lining and a woven fabric for the covering or outside, both the lining and the 'covering being' coated with a thin film of' rubber so that they may properly adhere together, I apply on the lining, as the part indicated in Fig. l by a, b, c, and d, a gore made of purevulcanizable India rubber rolled into a sheet, with parallel ridges in imitation of corrugations on the onel side and of a plain surface on the opposite side. From this sheet I cut gores of any suitable form, but so that when applied the corrugations shall run transversely or in lines about parallel with the sole.

The gore thus prepared and cutis applied with its plane surface onto the lining, and the outer cloth or covering, which has been cut so as to leave so much ofthe gore as may be desired exposed, is then applied. rlhe foXing may then be put on as is usual in such manufacture. The

shoe, after vulcanization, is then ready for use.

tion of corrugated goods7 substantially as herein to this specification before two subscribing Witshown and set forth. nesses.

3. The method herein described of inserting JOHNSON LETSON. goies in and uniting the saune with the body of the shoe or geiter by eeinentation and Vuleeniz- Witnesses: ation, as herein set forth. A. POLLOK,

In testimony whereof I have signed my name EDM. F. BROWN. 

